Daryl's Little Girl
by Caitlyn-In-Never
Summary: "You don't see what I see. It's not just that she makes him a better person. She does, but, he changes her too. He challenges her, surprises her. He makes her question her life." (Daryl Dixon/OC)
1. Chapter 1

_**Hey everyone, so I got this idea to post this story from my Quotev account. It's pretty much something different than a normal Daryl Dixon story you'd see here and there, but I hope you guys like it. I'm sorry if it's not the best...I tried really hard to make it okay.**_

_**So please review and tell me what you guys think, please? I'd be so grateful very, very much. Yet, I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters; that sadly means I do not own Daryl(Norman) either. Sadness...*pouty face, tears coming down my face* Haha. So...here we go loves.**_

I sat inside a potter-potty, at thirteen-years-old, crying for the lost of my mother. Holding tightly onto the handle of the potty's door, knowing my knuckles were white as snow, and my other hand was clamped down on my mouth, muffling the hard sobs that was coming from me, waterfalls of tears rolled down my face and some rolled over my hand, falling silently to the potty's floor. Those _things_ took the only family I knew away from me, leaving me alone in this new world-and I didn't know what I would do. The only safety I actually had was this stupid thing I was hiding in, breaking down.

The living no longer ran the world-the _living _dead do.

A unexpected nationwide-probably-virus spread around the state, causing people to be infected-_how _they got infected was a mystery to everyone. We only knew once you got the virus, you suffered a fever that killed you and then you would come back-dead but alive. The whole thing was like some horror movie-the events happening now were a lot worse than any horror movie could ever be. The monsters were real and there was no escape from them. Once they got you, they got you. And here in Atlanta, it was crawling with those things-thousands of them. At first Atlanta seemed to be the best shot for anyone because of this refugee center, only turning out to be a scam once my mother and I entered the city.

We hid from the zombies for a while, making sure to ration the small amount of supplies we brought along with us in our bags, but always knew we'd have to go out into the city for more. That day came too soon. The day before yesterday was my thirteenth birthday, and celebrating it inside mime and mom's small hideout wasn't how I wanted to spend it-mom made it seem normal though. Ever since I was little, mom had always manage to turn bad things good. It was just how she was. The day after my birthday, mom and I were gathering supplies when we ran into a few zombies-by a few, I mean more than we could have handled on our own and so we ran to get away, hoping we'd lose track of them. How wrong we were.

We were almost near our hideout when a walker came out of nowhere, grabbing my mother and taking a bit out of her. Another came after her-but I was the target-and did the same thing. She told me to run-I did. I ran until I came across a construction site, luckily finding an unused potter-potty and hiding inside it, locking myself inside as I slid down to the floor, and broke down. I couldn't believe I watched my mother get killed in front of me, and I was sure I'd never forget it. _Ever. _And since yesterday, this is where I've staid. Locked away so none of the zombies outside could get me. If those freaks caught me-that was it. I probably wouldn't fight back.

After an hour of crying, I stopped and just sat there in silence, still holding the door handle tightly in my hand. Sitting there, I was thinking I couldn't die in here or outside with those freaks either. Mom wouldn't want that. She'd want me to live and to fight; I was never the one to back down from _anything. _This shouldn't be any different, either. If the world ever got back to normal, I didn't want someone to find me dead inside this potter-potty. Everyone outside is getting killed by zombies, and I would die from being inside a stupid potter-potty for so long with no food or water. Sighing, and nodding my head some, I slowly rose to my feet. My breath was shaky, so was my hands, and my heart was pounding so hard it vibrated my rips and thumped inside my ears, fearing to pop out of my chest. I bit down hard on my bottom lip, slowly pushing the handle down and opened the door, squinting my eyes some when the bright light of day hit my eyes.

The coast was seemingly clear-no zombies anywhere in sight. I exited the potty, closing the door silently behind me and began making my way through the streets of Atlanta. I wrapped my arms around myself tightly, having an eerie feeling as I went along. Those freaks could pop out of anywhere and I wouldn't have anything to defend myself with. My eyes scanned the streets, looking around at the destruction all around the city. I was awfully thankful I didn't see my mother's body anywhere as I walked around. I couldn't handle it.

Walking to another street, making it to where an abandoned tank sat, a dead body flung across it with birds picking at the dead flesh, I scrunched my nose up a bit, looking around again. I began to take a step forward when what sounded like hooves was heard behind me. A _horse_? What's a horse doing here? Quickly ducking behind an abandoned car near the other sidewalk, I lifted my head up some what appeared to be a cop on horseback riding carelessly into this dangerous city. What kind of idiot rides a horse into a city in this kind of world? By the looks of it, this cop does.

From behind the car, I watched the cop pass by with wide eyes, keeping them locked on him and making sure I wasn't seen. He had a duffel bag on his back, looking at it he had guns inside it. A lot that I could see, actually. I continued to watch the cop and his horse trot along, not seeming to mind danger could be lurking anywhere in the city at this moment, when something was heard above. My head shot up quickly, just in time for me to catch a glimpse on a building's window, what appeared to be a reflection of a helicopter flying by quickly.

Once I heard the sound of the cop call out to the horse, my head snapped back to look straight at him, seeing him have the horse follow the helicopter in a fast gallop. I rose to my feet fully, still ducking behind the cars by the sidewalk I was one, chasing after the cop and his horse quickly as I could, not wanting to lose them.

I reached the last car of the side walk, and the cop was about to turn a corner, when we stopped at the same time. That's when we saw them.

The dead. At least a thousand of them, huddled together on one street. The horse gave out a loud whinny, causing the zombies to see them. My green eyes grew wide at the mere thought of them, and the only thing I could do was just sit there in shock.


	2. Chapter 2

_**FuckinPoind3xter-I have a lot of ideas with this story, since it follows the series practically. And K'Brent is 13, I did say it but I don't mind saying again dear :)**_

_**FloodFeSTeR-I'm glad I have peeked your interest, I hope this update is alright. :)**_

"Crap..." I breathed in lightly, my hands still shaking from seeing the thousands of zombies in front of the cop and his horse. I swallowed hard, only feeling a lump forming inside my throat as my eyes stared wide. I was still frozen and no matter how much I screamed for my body to move-my body staid put.

The growling grew loud and the horse's panicked whinnies filled my ear drums, and the rose slightly and slammed it's front hooves down to the road underneath. Once the ghouls began coming forward to the cop, he steered the horse into the other way, away from the street the horde was one, and went full gallop back to where the tank was. I staid where I was, rising to my feet some, hearing the growls as I looked forwards once again. They were coming and coming after the cop.

I quickly made my brain make up it's mind and I quickly chased after the cop and the horse, panting with how hard I was actually running. The zombies hadn't seen me yet, but that didn't mean I wanted to wait for them to see me. I kept up running with the horse and the cop, I quickly ran out of cars and came to a halt when I noticed more zombies appearing on either side of the streets. I quickly retreated back to a car, hiding behind it as I watch the scene before me.

The cop stared at the zombies too long, and they quickly surrounded him. Some of the zombies grabbed at the top while he sat on the saddle, and the horse rose from the ground on his hind legs. It was in distress. He rose once more, sending the cop to the ground hard. The duffel bag was thrown off his back when he was thrown off.

I watched as those creatures grabbed at the horse, sending the poor animal down to the ground. I covered my mouth, muffling a shocked and horrified gasp as I watch the ghouls begin to eat the poor animal alive. The thing about these things, they can eat anything, but they'll always be hungry. I uncovered my mouth quickly, looking at the cop getting up from the ground, dazed and horrified as well as he looked towards the monsters eating his animal alive.

Now or never, K'Brent.

Now. I got up quickly from hiding behind the car and quickly into the danger zone. I quickly ran over to the cop, getting behind him and placed my arms under his, attempting to get him to his feet. He wouldn't budge.

"Come on!" I called out to him, noticing some of the zombies looking at us. My eyes grew wide and I backed away from the cop once a ghoul began running towards us.

The action of the monster coming over towards us caused the cop to come into focus, having him get to his feet quickly. He gave a hard kick to the monster's stomach, causing the thing to fall backward on his back. The cop looked around, and so did I, as more zombies began coming closer to us.

Before I could do anything, I felt a hand grab onto my wrist, tugging me down to the hard ground. Looking past my bangs quickly, I saw the cop looking back at me. I narrowed my eyes at him, feeling anger boil inside me, but as I saw him crawling underneath the tank, I got the idea he wanted me to follow. And that's what I did.

I quickly followed the cop under the tank, hearing the monsters growls as they chased after us. I felt a cold hand grab around my ankle, causing me to look behind me. My eyes grew wide in fear and I began screaming, struggling to get my foot out of the zombie's grip. It yanked me towards it slightly, causing me to scream more. The cop came to my rescue, delivering a hard kick towards the zombie's face, having it let go of my leg, allowing me to crawl away.

The cop and I continued to crawl under the tank, hearing the zombies chase after us. We stopped halfway once we noticed more zombies were coming after us from the other end of the tank. I ducked quickly, covering my head as the cop began shooting his gun at the zombies chasing after us.

My eyes darted quickly towards the underside of the tank, looking for a way inside. An open latch or something like that. Come on, please. The cop continued to shoot until I heard him whisper an apology to some women named Lori and a boy named Carl. I finally found a way inside, grabbing onto each side of the open latch and pulling myself inside. Once I was fully inside, I scooted towards one side of the tank, grabbing my chest and panting hard. My heart beat rapidly, fearing it would jump out of my chest.

My eyes darted towards the open latch, seeing the cop pull himself through as well, closing it quickly before scooting to another side of the tank himself. A lone dead soldier sat there, eyes close, seeming lifeless as he was leaned against the side of the corner.

We both sat there, trying to catch our breathes, hearing the zombies outside crawling on top of the tank. I was looking around, hearing every bang the ghouls were doing on the top of the tank. My eyes landed on the cop, just in time to see him jerk a pistol out from the dead soldier's holster. I heard was sounded like a crack, and the cop heard it to, along with a low snarl. Both our eyes looked at the soldier, seeing it was one of them.

The cop gasped a bit, quickly shooting the zombie soldier through the bottom of it's chin, so the bullet exited it's head. And maybe shooting a gun inside a closed space wasn't such a good idea, mainly because a loud, ringing began to fill my ears, piercing the silence and hurting my eardrums. I quickly covered my ears, trying my best to block out the ringing-and failing terribly.

The cop rose to his feet a little bit, stumbling around as he covered one ear, the ringing getting to him, making him disoreinted. He laid on the ground a bit, before looking at the top latch up the tank, quickly getting to his feet again. I watched as he quickly began climbing up to the top latch, opening it some. He was surely trying his best to get us kill!

I crawled towards where he was, hearing the growling as the ringing stopped in my ears, allowing my hearing to return to normal. The inhuman growls grew louder, and I heard even more of those things climbing on top of the tank. The cop quickly closed the lead, losing his balanced and fell hard to the tank floor. I crawled quickly towards him, placing my hand on his shoulder and he looked at me, and we both continued to hear the pounding from the outside.

"Are you okay?" I asked the cop, my voice full of concern.

"Yeah,I'm alright." He answered me after a brief pause, and him getting back into the right state of mind. He looked at me, his blue eyes meeting my green eyes. "Thank you."

"To be honest, I don't think you should be thanking me. We're not really out of the woods yet."

We both stared up towards the top of the tank, hearing the muffled growls and the banging on top. I bit my bottom lip hard, looking around. I looked at the cop once more, seeing him already looking at me. "Who are you anyways?" I asked him, raising an eyebrow.

"Rick Grimes," The cop answered me, introducing himself as Rick. "And yourself?"

"I'm K'Brent, sir."

"What're you doing here? Surely you can't be by yourself."

I frowned a little bit. "I wasn't up until yesterday. Me and my mom were here. She didn't make yet." I answered him.

Rick frowned himself. "I'm sorry for your lost," He told me and I nodded. "What about your father?"

"I never met him, ever." I answered him with a shoulder shrug. I looked at him, knowing it was my turn to ask a question now. "What're you doing here anyways?"

"I'm trying to look for my wife and son." He answered me, his face in a frown as he looked towards the floor.

"If they're anywhere around here, Rick, they better be hiding good."

Rick looked at me slightly, and I just frowned towards him. I looked at him through my bangs, about to say something when static interrupted, breaking the silence and having both Rick and I looked towards the radio inside the tank, seeing it had came to life.

I raised and eyebrow and Rick was looking at it confusion as well.

_Hey, you. Dumbass and the kid. _

My eyes grew wide once more, not believing a male voice was coming from the radio. I couldn't believe there was others on the outside. Rick and I looked at each other once more, both our faces holding the seer shock of it all. We turned back towards the radio, hearing the static continue.

_Yeah, you two in the tank. Are you cozy in there?_


	3. Chapter 3

_**FloodFeSTeR- I know right? Glenn, whoop! I'm glad you like the "odd name" K'Brent :) and here is the update! haha**_

The shock that there was a living, breathing person outside the tank was a bit much. I didn't move from my spot by Rick, and Rick didn't move from the spot either. We both just stared towards the radio, not knowing what to do or how to react. I guess Rick and I waited a bit too long, because the guy on the radio got a bit impatient with us.

_Hey, you two alive in there?_

With that question, Rick shot up quickly from the floor-a bit too quickly, seeing how he banged his head roughly against a low part of the tank. I rolled my eyes, finding myself laughing a little bit.

"Hello? Hello?" Rick questioned to the man on the other side of the radio; the tone in his voice feared the man may have given up on us.

I heard the man on the other end of the radio sigh; apparently he was relieved we weren't dead. I was relieved we weren't dead.

_There you are. You had me wondering._

"Where are you? Outside? Can you see me-see us?"

"Kind of hard to see through a tank, Rick." I commented, trying to ease the tension with my humor. Although the look Rick gave me, proved that it wasn't the time or the place for it. "Sorry."

Rick nodded his head, and the mysterious guy continued. _Yeah I can see you. You're surrounded by walkers. That's the bad news._

"There's good news?" Rick asked, his voice full of hope.

I rolled my eyes. "I really wouldn't be so hopeful about that, Rick." I remarked towards the cop.

Rick gave me a sideways glance, causing me to shrug my shoulders. He placed his fingers on his lips, indicating for me to shush. I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms tightly over my chest and lend back against the wall of the tank, continuing to listen out for the mysterious man's response.

Waiting to be proven right.

_No._

"Told you," I remarked to Rick, smirking a little bit, knowing I was right all along. Rick gave me another look, this time turning his head to face me. "What? I did."

"Behave," He ordered me quickly, making me bit the inside of my cheek. I held my tongue, giving him the benefit because he didn't know me well enough. Rick turned his attention back towards the man on the radio. "Look, whoever you are, I'm not afraid to tell you, I'm a little bit concerned for both me and my little friend in here."

_Oh, you should see it from out here. You'd be having a major freak out._

"That helps a lot," I muttered to myself, flipping my long bangs out of my face. Rick looked at me again and I held my hands up in defensive. "Sorry, sorry. I'll behave. Scout's honor."

"Why do I feel like you've never been a scout?" Rick questioned me, raising an eyebrow.

I shrugged. "Because I never have been."

Rick shook his head. "Got any advice for us?" Rick questioned the man over the radio.

_Yeah, I'd say make a run for it._

"Woah, hang on," I spoke up suddenly, moving from my spot by the wall and moving towards Rick, taking the walkie out of his hand. "That's it? _Make a run for it?_ Buddy, have you seen it out there?"

_My way's not as dumb as it sounds. There's one geek still up on the tank, but the others have climbed down to join the f-feeding frenzy where the horse went down. With me so far?_

"Um, so far, I guess." I answered the guy, eyeing Rick to see him nodded his head. "Yeah, so far."

_Okay, the street on the other side of the tank is less crowded. If you move now while they're distracted, you stand a chance. You got ammo?_

Rick took the walkie back from me, having me about to say something, but the look he gave me caused me to remain silent. "In that duffel bag I dropped, and guns." Rick answered the guy. "Can I get to it?"

_Forget the bag. It's not an option. What do you have on you?_

"Hang on."

Rick dropped the walkie, picking up the gun that was beside him-it was the gun he got off the soldier. He opened it, checking the single clip that was inside. He closed it back, handing it to me gently before scooting over back towards the dead soldier, patting him down looking for more clips. He didn't think I saw, and I noticed him giving me a sideways glance as he picked up a grenade that was beside the soldier, placing it into his pocket and coming back to be by my side. I handed him the gun and he took it.

Rick nodded and picked the walkie up, pressing the button to speak. "I've got a Beretta with one clip, 15 rounds." Rick stated towards the mysterious man.

_Make 'em count. Jump off the right side of the tank, keep going in that direction. There's an alley up the street, maybe 50 yards. Be there._

"Hey, what's your name?"

_Really, Rick? _I thought to myself, rolling my eyes.

_Haven't you been listening? You're running out of time._

"Right."

Rick dropped the walkie towards the metal floor. He clocked the Beretta in his hands, turning around to look at me. "Do you have anything on you, K'Brent?" He asked me.

"I don't have anything, Rick." I answered him truthfully.

Rick looked around the small space of the tank, his eyes landing on a shovel on a top of one of the walls. He reached over and grabbed it quickly, looking at it and then finally giving it to me. I looked at the shovel and then towards Rick, looking into his blue eyes with my green ones.

"Take that shovel and use it if needed," Rick instructed me. I nodded my head, gripping the shovel in my hands tightly. I felt Rick place his hand on my shoulder, having me look at him once again. "And stay behind me at all times, K'Brent. Understand?" Rick questioned me, never breaking eye contact.

"Yeah," I answered him. "I understand."

"Then lets go."

I braced myself as Rick quickly made it to the top latch of the tank once again, opening it. I bit the inside of my cheek when I heard the inhuman growl of the zombie. I saw Rick's body move, knowing he struck the thing in it's face with the Beretta. Rick pulled himself out of the tank and that was my cue to move and follow him. And I did.

I pulled myself from the top latch, having Rick help me. I kept my grip on the shovel as he jumped off the side of the tank, and both crashing to the hard ground together. Rick jumped to his feet, as did I, as the zombies noticed us and we ran towards the direction the guy told us to go.

As we ran more zombies continued to show their faces, causing Rick to shoot his gun to clear a path for us. The first time he shot it, I jumped a bit by the sudden sound. As I ran, I felt a hand grip onto the back of my Marilyn Monroe sweatshirt. I turned around quickly, only to be face-to-face with the undead. I quickly whacked it in the head with the shovel, having it fall down to the ground. I quickly ran and caught back up with Rick, having him grab onto my wrist tightly to make sure I staid behind him and nothing got me again.

We kept running and Rick kept shooting zombie after zombie, clearing a pathway for us as we neared the alley. A sudden movement from beside us caused Rick to turn and aim his gun towards whatever it was, revealing to be an Asian guy. He held open the gate for us, exclaiming to Rick quickly he wasn't dead. He ushered for us to follow him, proving to us he was the guy from the radio. Rick pushed me forward into the alley way in front of him, and the radio guy pushed me a head of him having me in front as we ran into the alley.

The radio guy instructed us to follow him as we ran and Rick continue to shoot at the zombies. We made it towards a fire escape ladder on the side of one of the buildings. I looked up at it, feeling hands go on my waist and helping to lift me up. I grabbed onto the rings of the ladder, looking down to see the radio guy. He nodded his head quickly, looking towards the zombies quickly filling into the alley. My eyes grew wide and I quickly began climbing, and the radio guy followed behind me. Rick gave out a couple of more shots towards the approaching zombies, only causing the radio guy and I to tell him to hurry.

I kept climbing until I came to a balcony on the side of the building, stepping onto it quickly and gripping onto the railing, moving over to Rick and the radio guy could have room as well. We all leaned against the railing, trying to catch our bags as the zombies filled up the alley down below, growling and snarling as they looked at us from below.

"Nice moves there, Clint Eastwood." The radio guy commented towards Rick, still breathing hard. "You the new sheriff come riding in, with your little sidekick, to clean up the town?"

"Wasn't my my intention." Rick replied to him, still leaning against the railing to catch his breath.

"Yeah, whatever. Yeehaw. You're still a dumbass."

"Rick," Rick said pushing himself from the railing, turning to face the radio guy who had done the same thing. Rick held his hand out to the radio guy. They shook hands quickly, and Rick pointed to me. "And that's K'Brent."

I pushed myself from the railing as well, turning to face the two grown men and waved a bit towards the radio guy. "Hey. Thanks for saving us."

"Glenn," The radio guy said, introducing himself to us. He turned to me, and his lips formed a small smile. "And you're welcome."

Rick moved to place his gun inside Glenn's backpack as Glenn looked down to the zombies below. He gave a sound of distress, causing both Rick and I to look down as well. More zombies were piling up inside the alley and some appeared to be pushing themselves through the fire escape. Glenn, Rick and I looked up towards the top of the fire escape ladder, and I squinted my eyes a little bit, the sun was shining right into my eyes.

"The bright side: it'll be the fall that kills us." Glenn remarked towards Rick and I, turning away from looking at the ladder to us. He saw the looks on our faces and nodded a little bit, he looked at us again and began to explain his sudden remark. "I'm a glass-half-full kind of guy." Glenn informed us before turning around and climbing quickly up the ladder, giving enough space between us to follow him.

I grabbed onto the ladder's rings, looking at Rick. "That doesn't sound much like a bright side, Rick." I told my new friend, feeling a bit uneasy due to what Glenn said.

"No it doesn't," Rick replied to me. "But we don't have any other choice, K'Brent."

I sighed and nodded my head, quickly climbing up the ladder to catch up with Glenn. Rick followed quickly behind me. As I climbed the ladder, I bit the inside of my cheek feeling uneasy about this whole thing.


	4. Chapter 4

_**I'm happy every seems to be liking the story so far :) please review.**_

"Back at the tank, why'd you stick your neck out for me and K'Brent?" Rick asked Glenn after we jogged across a building's roof top to a latch of the top, to which Glenn opened and revealed there was a ladder-so basically we were going into the building from here. I looked at Glenn, raising an eyebrow as I crossed my arms over my chest. I chewed my bottom lip softly, never taking my eyes of the Asian man.

"Call it foolish, naive hope that if I'm ever that far up shit creek," Glenn began to inform us while taking his backpack off and throwing it down the darken hatch, and soon placed himself on the ladder to climb down. His gaze rose up to me and Rick. "That you know, somebody might do the same for me. What about it, K'Brent? That makes me a bigger dumbass than him, huh? I guess."

I looked at Rick as Glenn quickly began to climb down the hatch's ladder. "I don't think you are, Rick," I reassured the cop truthfully. Sure, he was an idiot that rode in on a horse, made me have no choice but to help but-I wouldn't go too far as to call him a dumbass though. Meh, might just be me though.

"I appreciate that, K'Brent." Rick said as he gently took hold of my arm, bringing me in front of him and helping me to the ladder. "Now how about me and you put a move on it? Don't think Glenn is in the mood for us trotting along."

I nodded my head and began climbing down the ladder quickly, Rick followed in climbing down when there was enough space between us. Rick closed the top latch as he climbed down. Glenn waited at the bottom patiently for us, grabbing onto my waist once again and helped me back down the the ground. He had his backpack back on his back, adjusting the straps soon as Rick made it to the small area with us. Glenn grabbed hold of my wrist, pulling me along with him-and Rick was hot on our tail. "I got a question for you, K'Brent," Glenn spoke up suddenly, still pulling me along with Rick behind us, leading us through this building and its winding hallways. "What's a small girl, like you, _even _doing here in the first place?"

"I was with my mom when the outbreak started," I answered Glenn, panting a little bit due to my heady breathing as we ran quickly-and the whole pulling me along wasn't helping at all either. "And we made it here to Atlanta, thinking it was space-that had to be the _biggest _pipe dream we've ever had. We got here and quickly hid from those zombies. Only, yesterday, my mom wasn't so lucky. I'm on my own now."

Hearing those words come from my mouth, they had Glenn stop in his tracks-and Rick had no choice but to stop also. Glenn let my wrist go, turning around to face me fully, his face holding nothing but utter understanding and remorse-I was glad it wasn't pity, and I was glad he understood. Even if he hadn't said it, the mere expression that he understood what I was going through made me feel better. He must have lost a few people he was close to, too. "I'm sorry about your mom," Glenn told me and I nodded towards him, giving him a smile as Rick cleared his throat. Glenn suddenly snapped back into motion. He grabbed my wrist once again, this time looking at me for approval-and he got it. "Lets go!" Glenn called out to both Rick and I, starting to run through the halls once more-and Rick once _again _followed behind us.

We continued running until we reached a door, Glenn opening it to reveal a metal stairs. Glenn released my grip, freeing me to run behind him; the way I was I was in the middle of both him and Rick, so I was good in case any danger happened to approach us. "I'm back," I sudden heard Glenn announce into a walkie-probably to his group, I guess. "I got two guest with me, plush four geeks in the alley." He finished what he was saying as we reached the end of the stairs, leading into yet another alley way, but we stopped running once we heard the inhuman growling.

Two zombies growling, slowly approaching us. I stepped back a little bit onto the steps, bumping my back into Rick's stomach. I felt his hand go on my shoulder, squeezing it gently-it was like he was trying to say everything would be fine, but when I looked up towards his face-he was scared as well. I bit the inside of my cheek, jumping some when I heard what sounded like a door slamming against brick. I turned my head away from looking up at Rick toward the building in front of us. Two men, wearing this gear of some kind, raced into the alley way and charged towards the zombies, striking them with bats-over and over again.

"Lets go! Lets go!" Glenn called out to Rick and I, charging towards the open door of the building. I followed behind Glenn quickly, not wanting to beat around the bush and get killed or something, and Rick followed behind me. The two geared up men followed behind us, one closing the door with a slam as we all entered. Glenn and I stood beside the door-I was standing between him and a beautiful, older black women. One of the men began taking his gear off, showing he was a Hispanic man and the other began doing the same, showing he was a young black man. Before I knew it, a women with blond hair roughly grabbed hold of Rick, slamming him into what seemed to be a freezer or something, holding her gun to his face-nothing but pure fury was in her blue orbs.

"You son of bitch. We ought to kill you!" The blond haired women said through her teeth, threatening Rick and causing me to bit the inside of my cheek.

"Just chill out, Andrea. Back off." The Hispanic guy said with a stern voice, removing what was left of his gear. The other man was doing the same thing.

"Come on, hun, ease up." The black women said afterwards, obviously not wanting any more problems to happen.

"Ease up?" The women named Andrea said, scoffing and repeating what the black lady had just said. "You're kidding me, right? We're dead because of this stupid asshole. _And _because of that girl, too." Andrea exclaimed, turning her attention from Rick onto me. Me and her stared intensely into each others eyes-blue on green, never breaking it.

"Want to say that again?" I challenged her, stepping forward some, and only to be pulled back by gentle hands going on my shoulders. I looked up to see the black women, raising an eyebrow at her, she looked at me and shook her head some.

"Don't get into trouble, sweetie," She told me softly, holding me back by my shoulders. "We've got enough on our plates at the moment; I'm Jacqui,"

"K'Brent," I introduced myself to Jacqui.

"Andrea, I said back the hell off." The Hispanic guy, who I learned later was called Morales, stepped up towards Andrea-he had probably had enough of Andrea, who still had her gun pointed at Rick, despite the fact she was told to back up. He looked at Rick and then to Andrea, sighing and shrugging his shoulders slightly. "Or pull the trigger." He said, his voice challenging a little bit. Something about how he said it, made it seem like he knew she wouldn't-and she didn't.

Andrea said nothing, but her facial expression seemed to break some. She put her gun down, releasing Rick's shirt and backed away. She shook her head slowly, and tears started filling her eyes, they feared to spill at any moment.

"We're dead-all of us-because you and the girl." She informed all of us, causing me to roll my eyes. Although, I did happen to lean over past her some, staring at Rick-his face was confused just like mine was.

"I don't understand, and I'm pretty sure K'Brent doesn't either." Rick said after a few seconds, his voice truthful and full of confusion.

"Come with me," Morales ordered Rick, grabbing onto the cop's shoulder and leading him down the darken hallway. The young black man followed behind him, fallowed by Andrea and Jacqui-they left me and Glenn. We stared at each other before we both quickly followed behind them. "We came into the city to scavenge supplies. You know what the key to scavenging is? Surviving! You know the key to surviving? Sneaking in and out, tiptoeing. Not shooting up the streets like it's the O.K. Corral-like what you and your kid did." Morales explained, leading all of us through the hallway and into a clothing store of the building.

I stopped in my tracks a little bit at his words. "I'm _not _his kid, alright?" I sneered toward Morales, rolling my eyes and crossing my arms over my chest.

"It doesn't matter what you are to him really," The young black man said, stepping behind me, that I learned later was named T-Dog, and turned his attention towards the two double doors of the building. "Every geek from miles around heard you popping off rounds."

"You just rang the dinner bell." Andrea stated towards both me and Rick, turning her head to stare at the double doors herself. Rick and I did the same thing, and my eyes grew wide at the sight. There were zombies, or as they prefer to call them walkers or geeks, so I think I'll call them walkers, pressed against the first set of double, glass doors. They were crawling at the door, growling as they saw all of us inside the store. I noticed a few cracks in the door, making my stomach drop. "Oh, god!" Andrea exclaimed suddenly, moving back. The others looked to see what caused her sudden action, only to step back as well once they noticed one walker with a giant rock in its hands, using it to try and break through the doors.

I didn't move, I tilted my head as I folded my arms once again over my chest tightly. I should be afraid of this, but I wasn't. I was actually amazed by the fact a walker knew to pick a rock up and use it. And here I thought they were brain dead, only knowing to eat the living and all that jazz. I was brought out of my thoughts when a pair of strong arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me back with the others. When I was set back down on the ground, I looked to my side to see it was T-Dog that had done it. He smiled at me, nodding his head some and I did the same.

"What the hell were you two doing out there anyway?" Andrea asked both Rick and I, causing us both to look at her.

"I was actually about to leave the city on my own, no reason for me to stay here," I answered her and pointed my thumb to Rick. "I'm not so sure what he was doing before that happened, though." Actually, I did know what he was doing. Because I had seen the helicopter just like he did. I just didn't want to seem crazy for something that seemed impossible to be around.

"I was trying to flag the helicopter." Rick answered her.

"Helicopter?" T-Dog questioned, not sounding convinced. I looked around to everyone else-_no _one seemed convinced. "Man, that's crap. There ain't no damn helicopter."

"You were chasing an hallucination, imagining things. It happens all the time, sweetie." Jacqui informed Rick, trying her best to keep the peace within this group. She might have thought what T-Dog said would set Rick off, so she was being the reasonable one.

"I saw it." Rick told them sternly, glancing at everyone of them-and he stared at me, too.

"Hey, T-Dog, try that CB." Morales instructed the young black man, having T-Dog instantly try to get a signal on the walkie he held tightly in his hand. "Can you contact the others?"

My ears perked up a little bit at the word 'others', instantly looking away from the double doors and to Morales, raising an eyebrow. "Others?" I questioned, not believing they had more people probably outside the city.

"The refugee center?" Rick questioned, causing me to roll my eyes some, what part of pipe dream did he not understand?

"Oh, yeah," Jacqui started with bitter sarcasm in her voice. "The refugee center. They got biscuits waiting in the oven for us."

"Um, T-Dog," I spoke up, turning around to the young black man, seeing him messing with the walkie. "Do you, ah, have anything?"

T-Dog shook his at at my question, his lips forming a firm line. "Got no signal." He replied, still messing around with the walkie as we all looked at him. It appeared something popped inside his head, because his eye grew wide and he gave all of us a quick glance over. "Maybe the roof." He suggest.

Once those words left his mouth, a loud and ringing gunshot was heard over head. I jumped some and everyone, but Rick, looked at each other-they seem to know who it was exactly. Andrea was the first one to leave the room, saying something about a guy named Dixon. Jacqui and Morales followed behind him, T-Dog was next. They left Rick, Glenn and I inside the clothing store. We each gave each other a quick look before running to catch up with the others.

Seriously, what have I gotten myself into here?


	5. Chapter 5

_**Glad you all seem to like the story so far, tell me what you think please :)**_

"Hey, Dixon, are you crazy!?" Morales yelled over towards a man with very short grey hair standing on the ledge of the department store, shooting down to the walkers below. I took noticed he wore boots, jeans, a worn out over coat with no sleeves to it and underneath that was a black tank top with some unknown design. So apparently this was Dixon-the guy everyone was pissed off at for probably attracting even _more _of those walker things to our front door. Oh, no, me and Rick were being blame for this-and _he _was probably up here the whole time shooting as well and we didn't even know it? Just great.

The man name Dixon only laughed a little bit, continuing to fire down to the walkers below. Andrea cursed from beside me, having me look at her slightly and back towards the Dixon guy when another loud, ringing of the shotgun went off again. I rolled my eyes, cupping my hands around my mouth, ready to yell towards this shooting, hillbilly idiot. "Hey, Jerk!" I called out to the guy named Dixon, causing everyone-even Rick-to look at me. The man stopped shooting for a bit, his body tensing at my unknown voice calling out to him-feeling a bit challenged, maybe? Oh, well. "Knock it off will ya!? You're only getting us into even more trouble with that loud, stupid shotgun of yours!"

Slowly the man turned to face me, holding his shotgun in his hands. His face was stern, and I could see some shade of stubble on his face, forming a light o'clock shadow. He held his shotgun in his hand, pointing the barrel in my direction lightly, holding it to the sky as to not point it _directly _at me. "Hey, sweetheart, you ought to be more polite to a man with a gun!" Dixon called out to me, his southern drawl voice full of sternness. I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms as I stepped down from the small ledge I stood with Andrea and Morales, going down to the ground as Dixon jumped off the ledge. His feet landed with a light thud. I stood beside Glenn now, hiding my body a little bit from this Dixon guy. Something about him just didn't feel right to me. "It's only common sense." Dixon added on, laughing right afterwards.

"Man, you wasting bullets we ain't even got, man!" T-Dog exclaimed sternly towards Dixon, jumping off the ledge with Morales stopping at the edge of it. T-Dog stepped up to Dixon, stopping when he was almost near him, stopping Dixon as he was laughing. Dixon stepped up slightly to T-Dog as Morales finally jumped down from the small ledge he was on, going over to the ledge of the roof. He probably stood there just in case this fuss between T-Dog and Morales got out of hand. "And you're bringing even more of them down on our ass! Man, just _chill._" T-Dog finished his argument, causing Dixon's face to turn into a deep frown-almost seeming like a scowl or something like that.

"Hey, bad enough I've got this taco-bender on my ass all day." Dixon replied angrily towards T-Dog, causing me to bite my bottom lip a little. "Now I'm gonna take orders from you? No way, bro. That'll be the day." Dixon added in his little insult, lighting a fuss to set my blood boiling-obviously he did the same thing to T-Dog.

"That'll be the day?" T-Dog repeated what Dixon had just said, halfway challenging and halfway pissed off from the insult. "You got something you want to tell me?"

"Hey, T-Dog man, just leave it. Alright? It ain't worth it." Morales said from the side, speaking up and stepping in the fuss-which now wasn't much of a fuss anymore. T-Dog continued to stare at Dixon, and Dixon did the same thing to T-Dog, clutching his shotgun tightly within his hands. Morales turned his attention towards Dixon, trying to talk some sense into the hotheaded holder man, trying to keep the peace. "Now, Merle, just relax, okay? We've got enough trouble?"

I stepped up some, going to step between Merle and T-Dog myself, but the hands of both Rick and Glenn pulling me back between them stopped me. I rolled my eyes, folding my arms tighter to my chest. Apparently, Merle liked to get a raise out of everyone-he kept going on, even after Morales pleaded with them to keep the peace.

"You want to know the day?" Merle questioned T-Dog, a slight smug facial expression planted on his pale face, blue eyes growing darker by the minute.

"Yeah." T-Dog answered shortly, clearly pissed off.

"I'll tell you the day, Mr. "You." It's the day I take orders from a nigger." Merle insulted, causing me to gasp some at the "N" word coming from this idiot's mouth. My blood boiled again, and when I looked at Jacqui I could see she was pissed off as well. T-Dog was the _most _pissed of by that insult, throwing a punch at Merle and only to be knocked back hard by the butt of Merle's precious shotgun coming in contact with his face-hard. A brawl between the two men started, and sadly it appeared Merle had the upper hand here. While Merle had T-Dog by the front of his shirt, beating the crap out of him, Rick tried to step in quickly and be the cop he was-and try to break up the fight before something awful happened. Only he was knocked to the ground hard as well, having Merle's face come in contact with him and sending him flying. Rick laid on the ground, obviously in a daze.

Andrea, Jacqui, Morales and I were shouting for Merle to stop his assault on poor T-Dog, and I cringed as Merle brutally shoved T-Dog backwards, having the poor man lose his footing and bang his head on the side of the large pipe, making a banging sound as his skull made contact. Andrea's cries were louder than any of ours, and once Merle began kicking T-Dog in the ribs repeatedly over and over again. I broke free from the grip Glenn held on my shoulders, trying his best to keep me away from the raging Merle Dixon as he assaulted his friend with no mercy at all-and with no signs of stopping either. I ran quickly over to the two men, using all my strength to shove Merle sideways some to stop him from kicking T-Dog. The older man stumbled back some, causing me to smirk, but I, too, just as everyone else, came in contact with Merle Dixon's rage. After gaining his balance, Merle whirled around socked me straight and harshly into my nose, not hard to break it, but sure hard enough for me to think it was!

I stumbled back some, having Glenn quickly catch me and us both fall down to the roof's ground. I held my nose, feeling the sticky sensation of my own blood trickling down. I hissed as I let go of my nose, the pain of holding it was too much. I sat back with Glenn holding me tightly, and we continued to plead with Merle to stop as he soon straddled T-Dog and pulled out a small handgun, pointing it towards poor T-Dog's face. My breath hitched in my throat at the action Merle just took. "No, please," Andrea pleaded, out of breath from screaming. "Merle, please. Please."

T-Dog laid on the ground grunting and trying to catch his breath, wincing in pain do to Merle's knees digging into his probably bruised ribs. Merle looked around to all of us, looking at him with pleading eyes for him not to shoot. Merle looked back down to T-Dog, who was staring up at him with wide eyes, and with a yell Merle spit on T-Dog, rubbing his spit on his shirt before standing up. A low rumble of thunder was heard off in the distance. "Yeah, alright," Merle began to exclaimed as he pointed his gun at us slightly, staring at all of us as Jacqui, Morales and Andrea began pulling and injured T-Dog away. Glenn still had me in his hold, keeping his arms protectively around me. "We're gonna have ourselves a little powwow, huh? Talk about who's in charge. I vote me. Anybody else? Huh? Democracy time, y'all. Show of hands. All in favor, huh? Come on, guys. Let's see 'em. Come on."

After a few minutes, Morales was the first one to raise his hands, earning a distress sigh from Andrea. "All in favor?" Merle asked again, his lips tugging into a smug smirk. He knew he was being a total a-hole at the moment. "Yeah, that's good." Merle said soon as everyone-but me-began raising their hands. I stifled a giggle seeing Jacqui, holding her hand up to flip Merle off. My stifle giggles stopped once Merle turned his attention to me, causing my eyes to narrow a bit as his blue eyes locked on my green ones. "What about it, sweetheart? Huh? Wanna take it the easy way or the hard way?" Merle questioned me, halfway threatening and halfway challenging me.

"K'Brent," Glenn's voice whispered to me, his voice full of plea. He must not want another episode between Merle and I to happen again. I turned my face to stare into his dark, brown eyes. "Please?"

"God," I sighed, finally raising my hand a little bit, finally joining this bandwagon. "Fine, fine. There, ya happy?"

"Yeah," Merle replied smugly, causing me to roll my eyes some. "That means I'm the boss, right? Yeah. The boss."

"That or the idiot." I muttered to myself, wiping away the last bit amount of blood from my upper lip with my hand, sniffling some and grimacing at the stinging pain that occurred once I did.

"I'm sorry, what was that sweetheart?" Merle questioned me, having me look up at him through my bangs, my eyes narrowing at the mere sight of him. "I didn't catch what ya said with you muttering away. Why don't you speak up-let me hear that again, clearly." Merle challenged me, seeing if I'd actually say it again. He doesn't know me at all. Not one bit.

"Alright then, Merle," I said with my voice calm as I could have it. "You said with all of us raising our hands made you the boss, and I said it made you the idiot as well."

Merle looked at me slightly, his jaw tightening as he stepped forward some and before anyone could react-or before Glenn could stop it, Merle grabbing me by my hair, pulling me to my feet and having it to where his fingers dug into my scalp roughly. I struggled to get lose, not wanting his hands _anywhere _on me. Merle tugged my hair roughly, sending me to my knees hard on the rough roof gravel. Andrea, Morales and Glenn called out for Merle to stop-I heard Jacqui curse him for everything he was worth, telling him to release me or she'd beat his ass. If I wasn't in my predicament at the moment, I'd probably laugh at her comment. With a hard yank, Merle snapped my head back, making it feel like I just gotten the worse case of whiplash ever. I stared up at him, my eyes probably dark from how pissed off I was as tears began to form in them and I saw his blue eyes were darker as well, full of anger and annoyance.

"Listen here, sweetheart," Merle began to tell me harshly, his voice sounding almost like venom. "You got a mouth on ya, and I come from an old school were the belt and beating were used regularly. Need to learn to respect your elders-and I'm not the one you want teaching it to you. Understand me, girl?" Merle finished with a hollow threat, awaiting for my response.

Instead of a verbal response, Merle only received me spitting into his face and causing him to throw me roughly back to the others. I quickly went to my hands and knees, crawling towards Glenn who took me by my shoulders, sitting me against the wall of the ledge near T-Dog, standing beside me in a protective manner. Merle finished wiping my spit from his face, turning to me with fury in his eyes. "You little bi-" Merle began, but was cut off by Rick's voice, who I didn't know had gotten up with all the commotion.

"Hey!" Rick called out loudly, cutting Merle off and having him turn around quickly, only to have Rick slam the butt of Merle's shotgun into his face, knocking the redneck down to the ground. Acting quickly, Rick pinned Merle to the ground and pulled out a pair of handcuffs, cuffing one to Merle's wrist as the other he cuffed to a piece of metal to the pipe. Rick got off of Merle, taking the man by the shoulders of his vest and slamming him roughly against the pipe.

"Who the hell are you man!?" Merle demanded loudly, angered by the actions that just befell on him. Rick, who still had Merle in his grip, got close to Merle's face.

"Officer Friendly," Rick answered, letting go of Merle and reached back to get the man's handgun. With a quick motion, Rick took out the clip inside it, holding the gun in one hand and the clip in the other. "Look here, Merle. Things are different now. There are no niggers anymore. No dumb-as-shit, inbred white-trash fools either. Only dark meat and white meat. There's us and the dead. We survive this by pulling together, not apart."

"Screw you, man." Merle remarked, rolling his eyes as he looked Rick.

Rick sighed a bit, looking back to Merle with stern look-almost looking annoyed as everyone else was. "I can see you make it a habit of missing the point."

"Yeah, well, screw you twice-that little brat of yours can screw off, too."

"Tell you what, leave my 'brat' outta this," Rick stated to Merle, looking at me slightly over his shoulder to see the bruising of my nose and some under my eyes, his face harden as he turned back to Merle. Rick acted as if he placed the clip back into the gun, pressing it to Merle's head. "And, Merle, ought to be polite to a man with a gun. Only common sense."

"You wouldn't, you're a cop." Merle said with a sigh, pointing out to Rick. A sudden look came into Rick's eyes, still keeping his face stern as he looked down some, removing the gun from Merle's head. He looked back up to Merle, his face stern once again as before.

"All I am anymore is a man looking for his wife and son. Anyone that gets in the way of that is gonna lose. I'll give you a moment to think on that." Rick stated to Merle, soon patting the cuffed man down, searching for anything on him-weapons were probably what he was looking for more. He soon reached a pocket of Merle's vest, pulling out a container of what appeared to be drugs-I knew there was a reason this guy was strong like he was. I knew it! Rick looked at the small container, roughly picking Merle's head up by his chin and examining him. He let his head go, flicking Merle's nose before standing. "Still got some on your nose there."

"What're you gonna do, cop? Arrest me-Hey! That's my stuff!" Merle began to laugh at his joke, but only turning stern and angered once again as he watch Rick toss his drugs over the ledge of the roof, down to the walker filled streets below. "If I get outta here you better pray! You hear me you pig!"

"Who _wouldn't _hear you, Merle!" I spat coldly at the man, who moments ago was a tyrant but was no reduced to a crying baby, having a tantrum because Rick got rid of his drugs. "I'm good, Glenn. I'm gonna go over with Rick." I stated to Glenn, having my new friend ease up. I gave him a reassuring smile as I rose to my feet, following Rick to the other side of the roof, leaning over the railing with him. Rick held his hand tightly by the wrist, his jaw still tighten hard. It only eased up when I placed my small hand over his large one, having him look at me. "Are you alright, Rick?" I asked the cop, my voice full of nothing but soft concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Rick answered me with a soft smile, turning to face me fully and his smile turned to a frown. He gently placed his hand on the side of my face, gently lifting my head some to exam my face. His saw tightened once again, seeing the bruising and tried blood on my face. "Better question is, are _you _alright, K'Brent?"

I smiled and took his hand off my face gently, turning back around to face the overview of the city, avoiding my gaze down to the walkers below. "Yeah, I'm fine, Rick." I answered my friend quietly, still hearing Merle grunting to free himself from his restraints to attack Rick. "Just hurts like fire-yeah, that's about it."

Rick placed his his hand on my back, patting it lightly before he too looked back to the overview of the city. "You're not Atlanta P.D." Morales sudden observation caused both Rick and I to turn around. He walked to the other side of Rick, standing against the ledge as well. He looked Rick up and down, looking over Rick's sheriff's uniform. "Where you from?" Morales asked Rick.

"Up the road a ways." Rick simply answered. Morales laughed some, leaning forward past Rick to look at me.

"Since you're not his kid," He started as we both looked at each other. "Where are you from, K'Brent?"

"I'm from about 6 miles out-I'm from Hapeville." I answered him, leaning on my tiptoes so I could look at him better past Rick. We all three looked back towards the overview of the city, and down to the walkers filling it up. A low rumbling of thunder went off again, sounding closer. Morales chuckled before he talked once again.

"Well, Officer Friendly from up the road a ways and K'Brent from Hapeville, welcome to the big city."

_**How was that guys? Was it good enough? And also...damn Merle, punch the young girl why don't ya?**_


	6. Chapter 6

"Here it is." Jacqui announced to all of us, leading us into a darken part of the building near a tunnel that would lead down into the sewers. She held a flashlight in her hands, Andrea had the larger one and Glenn had the other in his hand. The only reason Jacqui knew of this things existence is her job-or her old job. She worked in the city zoning office before the outbreak. We came near it, the tunnel to the sewers proved to be darker than the room it's self was. Glenn, Rick, Andrea, Jacqui and Morales stood around the tunnel, Andrea and I holding onto the railing-T-Dog was left on the roof top, not wanting to move him so his wounds form Merle could heal a little bit. Merle was left for obvious reasons-and he wasn't going anywhere if I was concerned about it.

"Can I hold that, Andrea?" I asked Andrea gently, pointing toward the large flashlight she held in her hand. She nodded her head, smiling at me some and I smiled back, sweetly as I could. I held the flashlight in both hands as she handed to me, pressing it on and joining Glenn and Jacqui in shining our lights down into the dark sewer tunnel entrance. I whistled a little bit, hearing it echo.

"This is it? Are you sure?" Morales questioned Jacqui, raising an eyebrow.

"I really scoped this place out the other times I was here." Glenn informed from beside Rick, still shining his flashlight down and having us all look at him. "It's the only thing in the building that goes down. But I've never gone down it. Who'd want to, right? Oh."

"Oh, what?" I questioned hearing Glenn's sudden discomfort. I looked up to see everyone staring at him, causing me to raise my eyebrow. I guess, apparently, Glenn was the on-the-go-guy. "Oh, that's why." I added, nodding my head some as I flicked the flashlight off, handing it back to Andrea and muttered thank you to her.

"You're welcome," Andrea told me softly, moving some of my hair behind my ear before turning her attention to Glenn. "We'll be right behind you." She assured the young Asian man.

"No, you won't." Glenn sudden told her sternly, it wasn't a snap, but it was stern. "Not you."

Taken back and feeling challenged, Andrea scoffed and looked towards Glenn hard. "Why not me? Think I can't?"

Glenn swallowed some, holding the flashlight in his hand tightly. "I wasn't-"

"Speak your mind." Rick suggest, cutting Glenn off a bit, only because he sensed his discomfort. Glenn looked at Rick and then to me, having me smile and nod my head, indicating to him I agreed with Rick.

Glenn nodded his head, huffing some. "Look, guys, until now I always came here by myself-in and out, grab a few things-no problem." Glenn began speaking his mind and no one interrupted him. "The first time I bring a group-everything goes to hell. No offense. If you want me to go down this gnarly hole, fine-but only if we do it my way."

"We're listening, Glenn." I replied to him, having him look at me and nod his head, turning his attention back towards the sewer tunnel.

"Okay, it's tight down there. If I run into something and have to get out quick, I can't have you guys jammed up behind me and getting me killed." Glenn informed us once again, having his voice calm and oddly in a stern way. "I'll take one person-not you either." Glenn added, stopping Rick as he stepped up a bit. All of us, Rick included, looked at Glenn because of this action. Glenn sighed and began to go on. "You've got Merle's gun and I've seen you shot. I'd feel better if you were out in that store watching those doors, covering our ass. Andrea, you've got the only other gun, so you should go with him." Glenn instructed Andrea, having her nod her head at him. She pushed back off the tunnel's railing a bit, placing her hands on her hips. Glenn looked at Morales and Jacqui, pointing towards Morales. "You be my wingman. Jacqui stays here. Something happens, Jacqui, you yell down to us, get us back here in a hurry." Glenn instructed Jacqui. She nodded her head agreeing to Glenn's instructions, and so did Morales. Glenn finally turned his attention to me, and he pointed at me slightly. "K'Brent, I need you to stay out of the way, okay? And not because you're a kid, but because all of us would feel a hell of a lot better if you didn't get involved with anything dangerous-and I think Rick would feel comfortable if you weren't anywhere near the clothing store, so in case the geeks break through the door you won't be caught in the crossfire of it all. I need you to head back to the roof and help T-Dog watch Merle. Not the most interesting job to do, I know, but I'd feel safer-and probably everyone else-if you were up there than down here, okay?"

I nodded my head towards my friend, understanding his instructions. "Okay," I replied to him. "I got it."

"Okay, everybody knows their jobs." Rick commented to Glenn, patting him on the shoulder, showing Glenn he was proud of how he took charge and spoke his mind.

Glenn took a glance over to all of us, earning head nods and proud looks. Glenn looked down and nodded his head, placing the flashlight between his teeth, and began climbing down the ladder into the sewer tunnel, Morales close behind him once Glenn put enough distance between them. Jacqui kept her light shining down as Morales and Glenn vanished into the sewers; Andrea, Rick and I walked back up into the store, finding ourselves clothing area, the walkers still trying their best to break through the first sets of doors. I looked at the double-doors, feeling uneasy and biting my bottom lip. A hand came on my shoulder, having me look to see Rick. "I'm going," I remarked to him. I felt Rick's hand squeeze my shoulder a bit, causing me to look up at him. I smiled at him some. "I'll be fine Rick-_we'll _be fine, Rick-_all _of us."

"You seem to have a lot of hope all of a sudden, K'Brent." Rick observed, having me chuckle a bit. "What happened?" He questioned, his eyes never leaving the double-doors to the walkers, but I could hear it in his voice, he was amused just a tad bit.

"In the darkest time, hope is something you give yourself." I quoted to him, laughing some, feeling much like Paisley. I shrugged my shoulders. "Or, unless, like now, you have people willing enough to pull together and help-and _that _gives me hope, Rick."

Rick took his hand off my shoulder, not before giving it another squeeze and walking more into the clothing store. I sighed and began my way down the hallway quickly, reaching the stairwell leading to the roof. I looked over my shoulder, sighing and began making my way up towards the roof, biting my bottom lip hard as I went along.


	7. Chapter 7

"Anybody out there?" T-Dog questioned for the fourth time in the last ten minutes, sitting against the spot on the ledges wall, trying to contact his group outside the city. I sat on the pipe beside Merle, avoiding his gaze, know his blue eyes were probably stabbing me in the back of my head in his sick, twisted little mind. I just simply ignored him, swaying my dangling feet back-and-forth a bit. I looked up to T-Dog through my bangs, flicking my head a bit so they'd move and I could see better.

"Anything?" I asked, hoping I'd get the answer I wanting-and once again, I didn't.

"Not damn thing, K'Brent." T-Dog answered me, all three of us hearing another rumble of thunder. T-Dog raised the walkie once again, giving it another go. "Hello? Anybody read? I'm hoping to hear somebody's voice soon, because I'm a little sick and tired of hearing mine." T-Dog added into the walkie, turning it off once again and slumping more to the wall he leaned against. I sighed my own self, leaning back on the pipe and closed my eyes tightly.

We were losing daylight, and rain clouds were starting to form in the sky, and also I was growing inpatient waiting for Rick and them to find a way out.

"Yeah, well, that makes two of us." Merle's voice spoke up shortly afterwards, causing me to open my eyes and lean back forward, looking at him and T-Dog looked at him as well. I rolled my eyes as Merle continued. "Why don't you knock that crap off? You're giving me a headache, boy."

I shook my head as Merle spit to the gravel of the roof beside him, turning around once he heard me scoff. "Got a problem, sweetheart?" Merle questioned me.

I sighed, moving my face from my hair and starting at him fully, giving him a good view of my face, letting him see my nose scrunched up in my annoyance with him. Before I could say anything, a sudden facial change had me change mine as well-as in confusion. Merle's face went from angered and annoyance to confusion. "What, Merle?" I asked him, still confused and slightly creeped out by his confused face, staring fully at me, taking in all my features now.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" Merle asked me, raising an eyebrow and I did the same thing, scoffing as I moved my long hair from my face again.

"No, you don't." I answered him, snapping lightly.

Merle simply shrugged, not fazed by snappiness. "Probably just have that face, ya know, sweetheart."

I groaned. "Knock it off with the sweetheart, crap, Merle. Alright? It's K'Brent."

Merle only smirked. "Whatever you say, sweetheart."

"Why you, no good, son of a-"

"K'Brent, stop," T-Dog said cutting me off before I could finish my sentence, having me look at him, seeing him giving me a stern look and I sighed and nodded, hearing Merle chuckle smugly. With that, T-Dog turned his attention to Merle, bot men staring at one another. "Hey, Merle," T-Dog began. "Why don't you pull you head out of your ass, huh? Maybe your headache will go away. Try some positivity for a change. Damn."

"You know, I'll tell you and sweetheart here what," Merle began to tell both me and T-Dog. "You get me out of these cuffs and I'll be all "Sammy Sunshine" positive for you."

I scoffed at his statement, knowing good and well, even if I didn't know him well enough, I've been around him long enough to know he would try something dirty the moment we let him free-and that's why both T-Dog and I didn't budge.

I was looking towards the door of the roof, hoping I'd see the guys come through any minute and tell us they found a way to get us out safely. My train of thought was broken when I felt a light tap on my leg, causing me to look and see Merle sitting there, propping his arm on his knee that was pulled to his chest. "What now, Merle?" I asked the redneck, getting annoyed once again.

"Listen, sweetheart," Merle started to tell me, causing me to raise an eyebrow some. "Let's bury the hatchet-ya know, forget what happened earlier-"

"-When you socked me in my face!" I reminded him, my voice sounding venomous.

"-You sort of caused that on your own," Merle stated to me, which he did have a point and I gave it to him on it. He continued, staying calm. "Hey, see that hacksaw over there in that toolbag, sweetheart?"

"Um, yeah." I answered him, raising an eyebrow not knowing how to act about it.

"Why don't you be the nice little girl I know you are," Merle began to tell me, a face smile on his face. "And get it for me. Get me out of these cuffs. What do you say?"

I scoffed. "As if," I replied turning away from him, looking back at the door.

"Come on," Merle went on. "I'll make it worth both of your while if you do. What do you say now? Come on."

"Why?" T-Dog questioned sternly, his eyes narrowed, holding the walkie tightly in his hands. "So you can beat my ass again? Or call me nigger some more? Or maybe rough up K'Brent over there again, huh?"

"Cone on now." Merle said, his voice a little pleading at this point. "It wasn't personal."

"And _how_ was what you did to both of us wasn't personal, Merle?" I asked the handcuffed redneck.

"Well, mine and his kind ain't meant to mix," Merle replied to me, still trying to be calm. I just scoffed and rolled my eyes once again. "And you, you just caught me in a fit of rage, sweetheart. Ever heard the saying, don't mess with the lion doing feeding time? Well, what I did to T-Dog over there, that was my feeding time. Even with what happened to us, it don't mean we can't...work together, parley, as long as there's some kind of mutual gain involved." Merle added on, turning to me once again. "So, sweetheart, about that hacksaw."

"Yeah, and I guess you want me to get that rifle of yours over there, too, huh?" I questioned the redneck, sliding off the pipe and began walking over to T-Dog, turning around so my back was pressed against the ledge. I crossed my arms over my chest, looking directly at Merle. "So the minute Rick comes back up here you can shoot him, huh?" I finished.

Merle chuckled some, adjusting his handcuffed hand a bit. "Little fireball ain't ya?" Merle asked me.

"Among other things, Merle." I replied.

Suddenly the roof's door opened, having all three of us turn to see the others running quickly back towards the ledge of the roof. Everyone piled up, and I stood between Jacqui and a still sitting T-Dog. Rick had gotten some binoculars from Glenn, looking down to the city to try to find another possible way out. Glenn had informed me once we came to my side, the sewers were blocked off, and there was a walker inside it. Great. Now even the sewers were dangerous. "There, that construction site, those trucks-they always keep keys on hand." Rick sudden spoke up, catching all of our attention as he handed the binoculars over to Morales, who looked at the same thing.

"You'll never make it past the walkers." Morales remarked after looking over the ledge to the thousand of walkers below.

"You got me and K'Brent out of that tank." Rick reminded towards Glenn, pushing himself away from the ledge. I turned around to face Glenn, as did Andrea, Morales and Jacqui.

"Yeah, but they were feeding. They were distracted." Glenn replied back to him, stepping away some.

"Could we, like, distract them again?" I questioned again, having everyone look at me. A slight feeling of uneasy came over me, having all their eyes on me.

"Right." Merle sudden spoke up, having all of us look at him now. "Listen to sweetheart here. She's onto something, ya know. A diversion, like on Hogan's Heroes." He added with a slight bitter, chuckle.

"God. Give it a rest." Jacqui snapped at him bitterly.

"They're drawn by sound, right?" Rick questioned towards everyone.

"Right, like dogs." Glenn was the first to answer. "They hear a sound, they come."

"What else?"

"Aside from they hear you? They see you, smell you and if they catch you, they eat you." Morales spoke up sudden, having us all look at him. "Other than that, nothing."

"They can tell us by smell?" Rick asked, obviously taken back as I was.

"Can't you?" Glenn questioned looking at us.

"They smell dead, we don't. It's pretty distinct." Andrea stated, looking at Rick.

Rick got this look on his face and before muttering for us to follow him-and we did. Glenn and I helped T-Dog up, letting him come along. Merle was calling out for us, but we ignored him and went on our way.


	8. Chapter 8

Okay, so maybe this plan Rick had wasn't the greatest ever-and probably me volunteering for it wasn't just a smart idea on my part. But here I was, dressed in a white trench coat like everyone else, wearing gloves and the only thing different was I'd being going out into the dangerous filled streets with Glenn and Rick. Maybe taking their advice on staying inside should have been taken seriously, but I wanted to help. I was slowly placing my hair into a high ponytail and jumped once the loud, shattering of glass filled the small room of the department store. I looked over at Rick, seeing him wearing a face mask and holding an axe and walking over to us. He stood beside Glenn, handing him a crowbar, having Glenn set it slowly and carefully on the stool that stood beside him.

Rick gripped the axe tightly within is glove covered hands, readying himself to chop down on the dead walker laying on the floor in front of us. He took one step toward the walker, slightly rising the axe before stepping back.

That was a bit anticlimactic.

Rick took off the face mask, placing both it and the axe on the floor. He removed his gloves and handed them to me before crouching down beside the dead walker, reaching into it's pants packet and pulled out a wallet. I raised an eyebrow as Rick began to open it, pulling out a card that I was pretty sure was a driver's license.

"Wayne Dunlap." Rick spoke up suddenly, telling us what the walker's name once was. "Georgia license. Born 1979." Rick added reading, handing the driver's license to Glenn. I looked at it along with him as Rick carried on, looking into the wallet soon pulling out a small picture. "He had 28 dollars in his pocket when he died..and a picture from a pretty girl. _With love, from Rachel._" Rick said reading the back of the picture, causing me to look down once the name Rachel escaped his lips. I snapped back into reality once Rick started talking again. "He used to be liked us-worrying about bills or the rent or the Super Bowl. If I ever find my family, I'm gonna tell them about Wayne."

I found myself smiling on that last part; Rick Grimes, you are one determined man. Ain't no doubt about it. Rick placed the picture back into the wallet, closing it and putting it back into Wayne's pants pocket. Rick grabbed the items from the floor, placing his face mask on and I handed him his gloves. As he was placing the gloves on, Glenn clearing his throat and caused all of us to look at him. "Remember," Glenn started. "He was an organ donor."

And I guess that gave Rick the fuel he needed, because once his gloves were on, he gripped the axe in his hands tightly and charged toward "Wayne" and didn't stop this time, swinging the axe down onto the dead body before us. Everyone grunted and Morales breathlessly said something in Spanish. I stood beside Glenn, grabbing onto his arm with every swing and chopping sound I heard from Rick and Wayne. The horrid smell of the dead body filled the room, making my stomach turn a little bit. My eyes scanned up a bit to Glenn's face, seeing all the color he once had gone. My face was probably the same way. Rick gave another hard chop to the walker, and Glenn jumped back some and hide my face in his chest, cursing loudly to himself. With one more last chop, and discomfort grunts form all of us, Rick finally took off his face mask, obviously having enough, and handing it to Morales, instructing him to keep chopping. The look on Morales' face said he didn't want to, but as he placed the face mask on, he knew he had to do it.

"I'm so gonna hurl." Glenn informed all of us, having me step back quickly form his grip, and patting him on the shoulder once he bent over resting his hands on his knees.

"Later." Rick said to him, backing up to where he was right beside Glenn. He turned to look at me. "Now, you're sure you want to do this?" He questioned me, a sudden look in his blue eyes as he did so.

I bit my bottom lip, looking around at everyone and cringed once Morales gave a chop to the walker's body. I swallowed some, turning back to face Rick and continued patting Glenn on the shoulder. "I'm sure," I answered him, nodding my head slightly. I removed my hand from Glenn's back soon as he rose to his feet, slightly turning away from the chopping Morales. "Oh God!" I exclaimed turning away my own self.

"Everybody got gloves?" Rick questioned all of us, having Morales stop chopping and remove the face mask. Rick looked to all of us, earning head nods from us all. He nodded himself before continuing with his instructions. "Don't get any on your skin or in your eyes." He instructed before all of us bent down, sticking our gloved hands into the mushy messy insides from the walker. My stomach was never weak, but this surely could change that. Once I had enough guts in my hands, I sat up and began to lather my white coat with the foul smelling substance. Glenn groaned louder, trying his best not to hurl, while he lathered his own self with the inside. I looked over at Rick, seeing him trying his hardest not to break the stern look he had on his face while lathering his own self, too.

Jacqui came over to me, helping me place more guts onto my coat. The horrid smell filled my nostrils, making me gag a little bit. Jacqui noticed and looked up at me. "You okay, sweetie?" She asked me sweetly, her voice not even above a whisper. I nodded my head in my response, trying to keep whatever I ate last down. The color surely wasn't in my face, I could tell. "You don't have to do this. I can take this coat off of you, and you can stay here with us." Jacqui commented to me.

I smiled softly. "And deprive those walkers out there the latest fashion sense? Nah." I joked to her, causing a small smile to form on her lips. She said nothing, only nodded her head and continued to help me place more guts on myself. Morales came over shortly after, helping her as T-Dog helped Rick and Andrea helped Glenn.

"Oh jeez. Oh, this is bad." Glenn groaned out once a line of intestines was place around his neck, causing my nose to scrunch up some. I seriously couldn't blame him, actually. "This is really bad."

"Don't worry Glenn," I said causing my new friend to look over at me slightly, still no color on his face. "Just think of anything positive you can think of." I added with a slight shoulder shrug.

"K'Brent's right," Rick replied agreeing with me. "Think of something-like puppies and kittens."

"_Dead _puppies and kittens." T-Dog joked to himself, but loudly enough we all could hear. And for poor Glenn, that was just a bit much for him.

Both Andrea and I moved away some from him as he bent over, emptying out his lunch all over the floor behind us. I looked away, knowing I'd do the same if I continued to look. Andrea sharply turned and face the young black man, her eyes intense. "That is just evil." She stated towards her friend sternly.

"Seriously, T-Dog, what's wrong with you?" I snapped towards him, looking at poor Glenn as he straightened back up, looking horrible still.

"Next time let the cracker beat his ass." Jacqui remarked from beside Rick. And I noticed Rick a little taken back, but nodded slowly. We continued shortly afterwards, placing guts onto me, Rick and Glenn until we had a good enough amount.

I groaned own self when a string of intestience was placed over my shoulders. Everyone looked at me, waiting for me to do the same thing Glenn had just done, but I only held my hand up to show them I wasn't. "Do we smell like them?" Rick questioned to all of us.

Andrea looked at him slightly and nodded. "Oh yeah." She answered. She pulled her gun out of her waistband of her pants, calling out Glenn's name. The young Asian guy looked at her and straightened up. "Just in case." Andrea added, raising up one side of Glenn's trench coat, placing her gun inside the waistband of his pants. She turned to me. "What about you?" She questioned.

"Um..." I said looking around and walked over, grabbing the crowbar. "I got this crowbar."

Andrea didn't look convinced, but she nodded nonetheless at what I had just said. "We make it back, be ready." Rick informed everyone.

"What about Merle Dixon?" T-Dog questioned, his voice stern at the mention of Merle's name.

Rick reached into his pocket, digging out the handcuff key and tossed it to T-Dog-who caught it and tightened his hand around the small piece of metal. Rick placed his glove back on his hand, instructing Morales to give him the axe once more. I bit my lip as Morales did what Rick asked, knowing what was about to happen.

"If three of us are going out," Rick began to inform, rising the axe a little bit and walking back towards the mangled walker body. "We nee-we need more guts."

And with that, another crunching chop was delivered to the walker body.


	9. Chapter 9

Thunder rumbled over head, clouds quickly covered the once blue and sunny sky, casting a shadow around the whole city. The snarls from the walkers behind us caused my heart to pound quickly, vibrating my ribs and thumping in my eardrums. Rick, Glenn and I have made it far into the streets without the walkers detecting we were alive-and I was so surprise this walker guy cover up was working so well. That didn't mean I wasn't freaked out on the inside and gripping the crowbar in my hands tightly didn't ease my worry at all either. But I continued to put on a brave face, knowing walkers were every where beside us-and behind us. "It's gonna work, I can't believe it." Glenn whispered from beside me, seeing how I stood between him and Glenn, his eyes scanned the walkers around us.

"Don't draw any attention." Rick whispered to Glenn through clenched teeth, looking as a lone walker came to us, showing some interest in Glenn. Eyeing him deeply, causing the guy to start groaning as he was a walker himself. I bit the inside of my cheek, doing my best to stifle a giggle. We continued on through the streets at a low and steady pace, trying our best to not be noticed. "You alright, K'Brent?" Rick questioned me as another round of thunder went off from above.

I tightened the grip on the crowbar I held in my hands, looking at him as walkers shuffled past us. "Yeah, Rick, I'm alright." I informed him, although I didn't quiet believe I was. As we kept going, I all too soon felt rain begin to fall down. Thunder crashed above and I looked at the walkers behind us, and then quickly back to the front. Okay, the fear was there once again.

"This isn't good." I said out loud to the two grown men, shuffling along with them, noticing more walkers joining the ones behind us.

"The smell's washing off. Isn't it?" Glenn asked Rick, worry filling all in his voice. I looked up at Rick myself, worry and panic filling my eyes.

"Is it washing off, Rick?" I questioned, feeling my heart about to jump out of my chest.

"No, it's not." Rick answered me, keeping a straight face looking ahead. He paused for a few minutes. Well...maybe a little."

The roar of a walker was heard charging at Rick, causing the cop to turn sharply, bringing the axe he held down into the walker's head. He pulled it back and kicked the walker's dead body away, turning to look at Glenn and I. "Run!" He yelled out to us, and we were quick to follow his instructions.

We ran quickly as the walkers charged after us from behind, and to clear our paths we took out any walker that came towards us; it still scared me, so that and the fact these things were what killed my mother, the fear and anger gave me the drive to kill them, making it all too easy for me to raise my crowbar and strike them down.

We ran to a high, metal fence. Rick flung his axe over the fense as I dropped my crowbar quickly beside me, climbing up the fence with him. Glenn was way ahead of us and was at the fence before we were, throwing his weapon to the ground and climbing up, he was already to the other side by the time Rick and I made it to the top of the fence. Rick and I dropped to the ground beside him, all three of us removing our trench coats as we did so.

Halfway with us running through the construction site, Rick stopped halfway to turn around and shoot at the walkers attempting to push down the fence to make their way through.

Me and Glenn made it tot he area with the trucks, looking at a lock box that held the keys, we looked around for something that could one it. Glenn picked up a random crowbar from the ground, using it to strike the lock on the box and opening it quickly, reaching in and getting the one we needed out, handing it to me.

I turned and saw Rick jogging over to us. "Rick!" I called out, getting his attention before tossing him the keys, having him catch them in the air, running his way towards one of the trucks; me and Glenn followed behind him.

Once we were at the truck, Rick got inside the driver side, starting it up. Between Glenn and I, I made my way inside first, quickly getting inside the back as Glenn got into the passenger side, slamming the door just in time for a walker to slam itself against the door. I screamed a little bit, falling backward into the back soon as Rick back the truck up quickly, revving it and driving away from the horse of following walkers.

We continued away from the construction site, turning to make our way back into the city.

"Oh, God. They're all over that place!" Glenn exclaimed, obviously still shocked by what happened.

"You need to draw them away." Rick informed Glenn sternly, keeping the truck in it's speedy pace going through the streets of the city. "Those roll-up doors at the front of the store, that area? That's what I need cleared. Raise your friends. Tell them to get down and be ready."

"And I'm drawing the geeks away how? I-I missed that part."

"Noise." I said replying to him. Both men looked back at me, and Rick nodded his head before turning back to the front. I turned to look at Glenn. "You need noise, Glenn."

"And I get noise how?" he asked me.

* * *

With the sudden shattering of the car window, the loud ringing of the alarm went off.

Glenn and I covered our ears, trying to drown out the loud noise as we looked around, watching out for any walkers that may be close by. Rick had entered the car, using a screwdriver to rig the car so that the alarm would be set to continue it's siring out.

Getting out of the car quickly, Rick came to my side and grabbed onto my arm; it was gently, but firm. He looked at Glenn. "Remember, front of the store and lead the walkers away." he reminded the Asian man.

"Right." Glenn said nodding his head, moving to the car and getting inside. Rick began walking us back to the truck, but before we got any further, and before Glenn could close the driver side door, I broke free from Rick's grip and ran towards my friend, hugging him around the neck in a sideways hug. Glenn used one of his arms to wrap around me. "Stay safe, K'Brent." he told me softly.

"You, too, Glenn." I told him, breaking our hug and backing away. He closed the door and revved the engine, backing the car up with speed, pulling down one of the streets quickly.

Turning back towards Rick, he and I ran quickly back to the truck, entering it and doing the same thing. With how well the last plan of Rick's worked, I was surely hoping this plan worked.


	10. Chapter 10

The next morning, I stood in front of the RV's bathroom mirror looking at my reflection-and I was surely thankful for the fact that the bruising was actually going away. My nose was still sore, but at least you can't tell I was clocked in the fact anymore. I was actually surprised no one asked yesterday, but maybe someone had said something and that's why they didn't ask. I don't know. I placed my hair into a messy bun, happy I was thankful enough to get a chance to change clothes and my shoes. Finally satisfied with what I looked liked, I exited the bathroom and closed the door behind me. As I was folding my blanket a light knock on the RV's door caused me to jump a little, but I rose to my feet and went to it and opened it. Standing there, as if they were waiting on me, was Sophia and Carl. I smiled towards them, mentally sighing that it was just them-and then kicking myself for thinking it could have been anything different. I don't think walkers could make it up here. "Hey guys," I greeted them with a warm smile, they both smiled at me. "What's up? Need to use the restroom?"

"No," Sophia giggled softly. She shifted on her feet, holding her arms behind her back looking at the ground. She looked up at Carl, noticing this silence was a bit long. With her shoulder, she bumped Carl and caused the boy to step up closer some. "Tell her Carl." Sophia insisted of her friend, slightly demanding a little bit and making me raise an eyebrow.

"Um, tell me what?" I questioned them, crossing my arms over my chest and leaning against the threshold of the RV door. I looked at both the year younger kids in front of me, seeing them look at one another before staring back at me. "Gonna tell me now or when Christmas gets here?" I joked with them, causing them to laugh some-and me.

"We were just wondering would you like to come exploring the woods with us?" Carl asked of me, causing me to bit my bottom lip some. His blue eyes stared into my green ones. He scratched the back of his head, looking at the ground, seeming to not know what to say next.

"Our moms said if you came with us we could explore the woods," Sophia said as she finished the woods for Carl. I smiled some. "Mr. Rick said you'd be a good person to watch after us, K'Brent. So...will you?"

"Well, after that compelling argument, how can I say no to you guys?" I remarked to the two of them, stepping down from the RV and closing the door behind me. I wrapped my arms around their shoulders, pulling them to me some. "Now, how about we go explore."

Carl and Sophia both gave out a laugh as we began to walk into the woods to start our exploration. The woods were beautiful in the morning, the birds chirped overhead and the smell of dew filled the air. Shortly after the exploring, we three began chasing after one another inside the woods laughing and enjoying ourselves, being the kids we were meant to be. We staid close so their mothers could see us, but far enough we had enough space to play around in. We continued laughing and goofing around with the sound of a loud snap from ahead caused us to stop in our tracks. Sophia, who was standing beside me, grabbed onto my arm with one of her hands, but her other one held my hand tightly in hers. I saw the fear in her brown eyes, making me feel sorry for her. "W-what was that?" Sophia asked timidly, looking around frantically.

"I-I don't know," Carl said, his voice shaking a little bit with fear, but he was trying to hide it as he stepped back some. Once he was at my side, he grabbed hold of my free hand, causing me to look at him. He turned around and looked at both Sophia and I. "You two stay behind me, I'll protect you two." Carl informed us sternly, his blue eyes twinkling some.

I smiled. "Alright, Carl, lead the way." I said, feeling slightly amused with the way Carl was taking the "lead" for both Sophia and I. We continued walking to where we heard the snapping sounds, slowly hearing something that appeared to be muffled growling. Raising and eyebrow, we kept going until we rounded a bush into a clearing-and instantly we stopped in our tracks. There, sitting on it's knees eating from a dead deer, that had three bolts sticking out from them, was a walker. It didn't seem to know we were there, but that didn't stop Carl or Sophia from quickly running away, screaming to the top of their lungs back to camp. I just sat there, feeling my heart beating quickly as I just sat there, not believing what was going on-and _not _believing what I was seeing.

Thanks to Carl and Sophia's screaming, the walker stirred a bit, turning around to face me. The insides of the deer inside it's dead hands, it's blood covering it's face as he began to stand. I was so shocked with fear I never noticed Rick, Glenn, Jim, Morales, Dale and Shane sprinting around me, circling around the walker. I was brought out of my thoughts the minute I felt someone pull me back, making me look to see it was Andrea and Amy. My head turned sharply once I heard the sound of grunting, seeing the men beating the walker over and over again with the weapons they had on hand. Shane knocked the walker down to the ground and before it could get back up, Dale chopped down on the things neck with an axe, severing it's head from it's body, making it go limp-and it appeared dead. It wasn't a pretty sight, but a dead walker was a whole lot better than a live walker. I got out of Andrea's grip, stepping slightly up so I could be by Dale and Rick's side. The looks of all the men-expect for Rick-this was the first time something like this had ever happened.

"It's the first one we've had up here." Dale exclaimed to all of us, gesturing to the headless walker. His voice held shock. "They never come this far up the mountain."

"Well, they're running out of food in the city, that's what." Jim commented having all of us look at him. "I won't be surprise if even more of these ugly bastards find their way up here."

"I wouldn't go that far, Jim." I remarked towards the older man, folding my arms over my chest. The sound of a branch snapping had me jump and hide quickly behind Dale. What? I can't get scared every now and again? Everyone with weapons got ready as footsteps kept approaching us, and everyone let out a slight breath when a man stepped out of the woods. He held a crossbow in his arm as he approached and stopped once he noticed Shane's shotgun being held to him, and I stepped slightly from behind Dale, having the older man hold me by his side. The man had short sandy brown hair, and tan skin. He wore boots, worn jeans and a wife beater. He had blue eyes and a mole on his upper lip. Seeing how I haven't met him yet, something told me this had to be Daryl.

"Oh, Jesus." I heard Shane mutter lowering his gun looking at Daryl.

Daryl looked away from us, his blue eyes landing on the mangled deer and the headless walker body beside it. His face turned from confusion to anger. "Son of a bitch. That's my deer!" Daryl exclaimed angrily, stepping from the woods more and walking over towards. Hm, looking at the crossbow he held those bolts must be his. "Look at it. All gnawed on by this filthy, disease-bearing, motherless poxy bastard!"

With each word to the dead walker, he delivered a hard kick to it's side. I rolled my eyes. "Okay, I'm not sure all that kicking is going to help." I remarked to him, trying to make my voice heard over his grunts as he kicked the walker body.

Daryl whirled around quickly to look at me standing by Dale, having me step back some. The moment Daryl caught a look at me, his angry expression went away into confusion. He stared at me just like Merle did-full of confusion, and thinking I was someone they knew. That or thinking I look like someone they knew. "K'Brent's right," Dale said causing Daryl to turn from me to Dale, his annoyed expression returning to his face. "Calm down, son. That's not helping."

"What do you know about it, old man?" Daryl questioned Dale sternly, his anger once again returning as he approached Dale. I stepped in front of the old man, holding an arm out to keep them apart and Shane used the butt of his gun to keep Daryl away. Daryl ignored Shane, but his blue eyes landed on me once again. Shaking his head he returned his attention back to Dale. "Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back _On Golden Pond__?_" Daryl questioned Dale with bitter sarcasm, turning around to his mangled deer and began taking his bolts out of it. "I've been tracking this deer for miles. Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?" Daryl questioned towards Shane, circling the gnawed on part of the deer.

"Even if that was safe, I _still _probably wouldn't recommend it." I commented, feeling my nose scrunch up a bit on that part.

"She's right." Shane said agreeing with me. "I would not risk that."

"That's a damn shame." Daryl said straightening himself up, adjusting the string of dead squirrels. I bent down to retie my laces on my converses. "I got some squirrel-about a dozen or so. That'll have to do."

As those words came out of his mouth, the severed head of the walker came back to life, catching me in it's sight. It began snapping at me, causing me to raise an eyebrow slightly. I heard Amy exclaim a little bit, running back towards the camp and Andrea ran behind her. It's a severed head-and it can't hurt you. Although, it was pretty disturbing for the head to be moving while it's not attached to the body. "Come on, people. What the hell?" Daryl questioned towards all of us. I was so busy looking towards the walker head snapping in my direction, I never noticed Daryl aiming his crossbow at the head. I learned all well enough when a bolt struck through the walker's head, causing me to fall back on my butt harshly. My eyes were wide looking at the bolt sticking out of the walker's head and then back towards the guy who shot it. He couldn't have waited until I stepped away!? Daryl walked towards the arrow, taking it out of the walker's head and looked back to everyone. "It's gotta be the brain. Don't y'all know nothing?" Daryl questioned us, starting to walk his way back to camp.

Everyone began following behind him, getting ready of the scene that was about to happen. Something told me if Daryl was anything like Merle, he wasn't going to be happy to know what happen to his brother. Glenn was the last one to leave the woods, helping me to my feet and we followed behind everyone. We jogged our way back towards the camp, making it towards the others to hear Shane inform Daryl about the problem in Atlanta involving Merle. "He dead?" Daryl questioned Shane, looking him up and down.

"We're not sure." Shane answered, his hands on his hips looking at the ground.

"He either is or he ain't!" Daryl exclaimed loudly, and Rick began walking towards the younger Dixon brother.

"There's no easy way to say it, so I'll just come out and say it." Rick said as he approached Daryl, and I grabbed onto Glenn's hand tightly. Something told me this wasn't going to end up very well.

"Who are you?" Daryl questioned my friend, not knowing who he was in the slightest.

"Rick Grimes." Rick answered him.

"_Rick Grimes,_" Daryl started, saying Rick's name mockingly before continuing. "You got something you want to tel me?"

"I do." I spoke up from beside Glenn, causing all three of the men-Shane, Daryl and Rick-to come around and face me.

"K'Brent." Rick said my name sternly, causing me to shrink back a little beside Glenn. Glenn placed his hands over my shoulder, tucking me to his side. Rick looked away from me and turned around to face the younger Dixon once again. "Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there." Rick informed Daryl.

The younger Dixon wiped at his eyes, and began pacing around a little bit before looking back at Rick. "Hang on," Daryl said. "Let me take a minute to process this. So you're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there!?"

"Yeah." Rick answered calmly. And the look on Daryl's face proved he was happy. _Not _at all.

Everything next happened so fast. Daryl flung his line of squirrels at Rick, only for him to dodge it. Daryl charged towards Rick, only to be tackled to the ground by Shane roughly. T-Dog dropped the logs he held in his hands and ran forward to the sprawling men. "Watch the knife!" T-Dog exclaimed as Daryl got his knife out of its older, getting to his feet quickly. I made my way out of Glenn's hold, much to his dismay and trying to pull me back, I ran just in time to pick the knife up from the ground when Rick disarmed the angered Dixon-and when Shane got him into a choke hold, taking him to the ground.

"You'd best let me go!" Daryl yelled out loudly, ordering Shane and trashing against the hold the cop had on him.

"Nah, I think it's better if I don't." Shane told him, holding him still in his choke hold.

"Choke hold's illegal."

"Yeah, well, you can file a complaint." Shane said, looking at me slightly when he heard me giggle. Although, I stopped quickly soon as Daryl shot me a glare. I stepped back some. "Come on, man. We can keep this up all day." Shane reminded Daryl.

Rick came towards the two men, crouching down to Daryl's level. "I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can manage that?" Rick questioned Daryl, getting only grunts as a response. Shane and Rick gave each other a look and a nod before Shane released Daryl, allowing the younger Dixon to get his breath back. "What I did was not on whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others-almost caused that little girl over there to have a broken nose." Rick informed Daryl, having him and the redneck looked at me. I shifted uncomfortably in both their stares.

"It's not Rick's fault. I had the key." T-Dog spoke up, having all of us look at him. "I dropped it."

"You couldn't pick it up?" Daryl questioned towards T-Dog sternly.

"Well, I dropped it in a drain." T-Dog answered Daryl, backing up some when the redneck rose to his feet.

"If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't." Daryl sneered towards T-Dog, attempting to walk past him to get away from all of us.

"No, but maybe this will," T-Dog said, trying to soften the situation. "Look, Daryl, I chained the door to the roof-so the geeks couldn't get at him-with a padlock."

"That's gotta count for something, Daryl." I spoke up from behind everyone, stepping closer to be by Rick's side. Daryl turned around to face me, and his eyes went down to my hand that held his knife. I looked down as well and then back to him, I held my hand out. "Here's your knife back." I added, trying to be sweet as I could to him, but my smile fell as he snatched it away from my hand. Well, I _was_ going to be nice to you!

Daryl's face scrunched up a bit, and he wiped what appeared to be tears from his eyes. He looked around at all of us, his anger returning once again. "Hell with all y'all!" He shouted towards all of us, making me shift again. "Just tell me where he is so's I can go get him."

"He'll show you." Lori's voice sudden spoke up, having all of us look towards her. Her eyes were locked in on her husband. "Isn't that right?" She questioned Rick, and I slightly looked up at my friend. And after a few moments of silence, I believe Rick said something Lori didn't want to hear.

"I'm going back."


	11. Chapter 11

I sat on the RV steps, drawing some pictures in the ground with a random stick I found laying around on the ground. I think Eliza and Louis had it earlier today-I'm no sure. Only thing I know at the moment, it was keep me occupied. Everyone was a bit tense after this morning, and after hearing Lori and Rick argue about this whole going back to Merle-no one felt right about it. Looking at Daryl, you couldn't help but feel a _tad _bit guilty. I mean we did basically leave his brother to defend for himself-and even with the padlock on the door, I don't think that'll hold if a whole bunch of walkers pushed themselves against the door to get to him. "Well, look I-I don't, okay, Rick?" The sudden voice of Shane caused me to look up from drawing on the dirt ground, looking up seeing Rick walk into view with his uniform on and Shane hot on his tail. "So could you just-could you throw me a bone here, man? Could please just tell me why? Why would you risk your life for some douche bag like Merle Dixon?" Shane questioned sternly to Rick, demanding to know the reason behind it all. That word "douche bag" seemed to get Daryl's attention, and caused the redneck to look at him sharply.

"Hey, choose your words more carefully." Daryl threatened, pointing one of his arrows at Shane. That caused both Shane and Rick to look at the younger Dixon, and Daryl scoffed before sitting on the log near the fire-pit. Lori, Carl and Amy were around it as well.

"Oh, no, I did. Douche bag's what I meant." Shane stated to Daryl bitterly. Shane turned his attention back to Rick, and Rick turned his back to Shane. The black-haired cop scoffed a bit. "Merle Dixon-the guy wouldn't give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst."

"What he would or wouldn't do doesn't interest me, Shane." Rick stated firmly to his best friend. "I can't let a man die of thirst-me. Thirst and exposure. We left him like an animal caught in a trap. That's no way for anything to die, let alone a human being."

I throw the stick back on the ground, getting up to my feet and wiping my hands and began walking over to the others. "So you and Daryl, that's your big plan?" Lori asked her husband, something in her voice said she was against the whole thing-and I was just thinking she just needed to let her husband do what he thinks is right.

I made my way beside Glenn just in time to hear him protest, and made me turn to see Rick staring at him. I cross my arms over my chest. "You know the way, Glenn. You've been there before-in and out, no problem. You said so yourself." Rick said to Glenn, using his words against him. Glenn removed his cap for a bit to run a hand through his black hair, and placed his cap back on. The face he had didn't seem like he was convinced at all. "It's not fair of me to ask-I know that-but I'd feel a lot better with you along. I know she would, too." He added, motioning his head a bit towards his wife.

"So, it's the _three _of you now?" I questioned shifting on my feet some, looking back from Glenn to Rick.

"That's just great. Now you're gonna risk three men, huh?" Shane questioned sternly, growing more annoyed by the minute.

"Four." T-Dog spoke up, causing a huff from Daryl.

"My day just gets better and better, don't it?" Daryl questioned not much to anyone, but loud enough we could hear as he cleaned his bolts.

"See anyone else saying they'd go back for your brother?" I questioned the younger Dixon brother, seeing him stare at me. My patience with him was really running thin-and I _normally _can tolerate anyone. Maybe the Dixon's were just here to test that.

"Yeah, but why him though?" Daryl questioned me, narrowing his eyes into slits as he gestured his head to T-Dog.

"You wouldn't even begin to understand." T-Dog stated before I could say anything. Daryl's attention went back to T-Dog. "You don't speak my language." T-Dog added with a slight smirk on his face.

"That's four." Dale observed from beside Rick, Jim stood silent behind him.

"That's not just four." Shane stated angrily. "You're putting every single one of us at risk. Just know that, Rick. Come on, you saw that walker. It was _here. _It was _in _camp. They're moving out of the cities. They come back, we need every able body we've got. We need 'em _here. _We need 'em to _protect _camp."

"Seems to me what you really need most here is guns." Rick informed to Shane.

"Oh yeah." I said with a slight remembrance on my face.

"The guns, right." Glenn said right after me, being on the same track as Rick and me.

"What guns?" Shane questioned, slightly confused.

"Six shotguns, two high-powered rifles, over a dozen handguns." Rick listed what was in the bag he dropped back in the city. "I cleaned out the cage back at the station before I left. I dropped the bag in Atlanta when I got swarmed. It's just sitting there on the street, waiting to be picked up."

"Ammo?"

"700 rounds, assorted."

"You went through hell to find us." Lori's voice caused all of us to look at her. "You-you just got here and you're gonna turn around and leave?"

"Dad, I-I don't want you to go." Carl pleaded with his father, his eyes showing nothing but worry. It pained me a little bit to see this, but after Rick had informed Carl he'd be back-and had to tell Lori he owed a debt to a man and his son, saying they had to stop them before they reach Atlanta-and the only thing that was stopping him was the walkie-talkie in the bag as well. And after that was said, it was done.

"K'Brent, what're you doing?" The sound of Rick's voice caused me to look up from my swinging feet. I sat on the tailgate of the van, ignoring the fact Daryl was glaring at me the whole time.

"I'm coming along." I answered him, a smile on my face. The look Rick gave me told me different though and that caused me to frown. "What?" I questioned.

"I think it would be better if you staid here." Rick informed me, placing his hands on his hips. T-Dog was beside him and a frown was on his face.

"What?" I looked at Rick and T-Dog, turning around some to see Glenn looking at me with a frown on his face. I didn't really bother looking at Daryl, but I did turn back to look at Rick. "Come on, Rick, let me go. I won't get in the way. I promise."

"K'Brent, this is for us. You're not entitled to anything."

"Um, yeah, I am." I persisted. Rick looked at me with an eyebrow raised and I slid myself off of the truck, landing with a slight thud. "If you haven't forgotten, Rick, I was there just as must as Glenn and T-Dog. Rick, I watched you handcuff Merle-and if something has happened to him, that's on me, too." I added with a slight plead.

"Don't need a kid coming along," Daryl remarked from behind me, causing me to turn and look at him. I raised an eyebrow towards him. "You'll just slow us down anyway."

"Is it _your _call if I go or not, Daryl?" I questioned sternly towards the other Dixon brother, watching his eyes narrow some at me. "No, I don't believe it is."

"You got a mouth on you kid," Daryl replied towards me. "Need to learn and respect-"

"To learn and respect my elders, I _know_!" I spat towards him, my eyes narrowed at Daryl. "Your brother made that perfectly clear, jerk!"

Daryl grew silent after saying that, but he still had his eyes narrowed at me. Rick placed his hand on my shoulder, pulling me along with him and away from Daryl and the others-and I knew a private talk was about to happen. Rick crouched down to his knee and was now eye level with me, his face holding nothing but concern. "K'Brent, I know you want to help out," Rick started, and I folded my arms over my chest. Rick sighed before continuing. "But I need you to understand-and don't think I'm agreeing with Daryl that'll you'll get in the way-that you are a kid. You got lucky in Atlanta with us, but I can't say that'll happen again. It'll be dangerous this time, and even with us around you. We can keep looking back making sure you're there-and you don't have a weapon to protect you and-"

"Okay, Rick," I said cutting the cop off before we could continue. "I get it. I'll stay here and I'll be a scout about it." I added with a slight smirk on my face, causing Rick to smile some.

"Okay, Scout," Rick said patting a hand on my shoulder before rising to his feet. "Counting on you to behave yourself. Keep yourself occupied."

"No promises there." I said as Rick playfully pushed me some, turning around and walking towards the truck. I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck, seeing a few of the women heading to the quarry with laundry. Maybe that'll keep me occupied. Maybe.


	12. Chapter 12

"Can someone please explain to me how the women got stuck doing all the Hattie McDaniel work?" Jacqui suddenly asked us, looking up from the wet shirt she held in her hands, looking across the water in the quarry to see Carl and Shane-they both were laughing and splashing around the water. To occupy myself, I joined the women-Andrea, Amy, Carol and Jacqui-in watching some laundry. I sat between Andrea and Amy, leaning over to look at Jacqui. I took a shirt from Andrea, handing it over to Amy.

Amy giggled some, looking at Jacqui slightly. "The world ended, Jacqui." Amy informed the older women, smiling slightly. "Didn't you get the memo?"

"It's just the way it is." Carol remarked afterwards, looking over her shirt to Ed that stood near by. Something about him didn't seem right-and the whole watching us work thing, I didn't like it at all. "Although, I do miss my Maytag." Carol added shortly afterwards, working on a shirt in her hands.

"I miss my Bens, my sat nav." Andrea said as she scrubbed a shirt.

"I miss my coffeemaker with that dual-drip filter and built-in grinder, honey." Jacqui added in, wringing a shirt out with her shirt out remembering her coffeemaker making me giggle some.

"I miss my computer and texting," Amy said sadly, working on the shirt she was wringing out. She turned to look at me. "What about you, K'Brent?" She asked me, passing me the shirt.

_My mother, _I thought to myself. I smiled some looking at Amy, handing Andrea the shirt that was just passed to me. "I miss this little studio my mom had built into our house-and I miss singing every and again."

"You sing?" Carol asked me, clearly amused by what I just said.

"A little, nothing major." I replied to her, laughing some and shaking my head.

"Maybe we can hear you sing sometimes," Andrea said to me, having me look at her. She smiled at me softly. "It'll be nice to have _some _entertainment around here." She added, causing me to giggle lightly as we soon got back to work. Shortly after a few moments, I notice from the corner of my eye Andrea smirking to herself. She looked up a bit from the shirt she was scrubbing. "I'm sorry to say this K'Brent," Andrea stated to me and having me raise an eyebrow. "I miss my vibrator." Andrea added, causing Jacqui and Amy to laugh lightly and caused me to snort a little bit.

Carol looked over her shoulder once again, making sure Ed was no where close. She turned back around and looked at Andrea, a weak smile on her face. "Me too." She confessed.

Now that did it! We all began laughing at that-and I even fell over laughing-until we noticed Ed making his way over towards us, having all the laughter die down instantly. I turned to look over at the older man, seeing him smoking a cigar. "What's up, Ed?" I asked the older man, using a hand to shield my eyes from the sun.

"Nothing that concerns you," He replied to me simply, causing me to bite the inside of my cheek. "What's so funny?" He asked all of us.

"Just swapping war stories, Ed." Andrea answered him, looking over her shoulder. She turned back around and we all started doing the laundry once again, still feeling Ed behind us. Well, this is uncomfortable. Andrea looked over her shoulder again, becoming annoyed with Ed as he hovered over us. "Problem, Ed?" Andrea asked with a voice full of annoyance.

"Like I told redhead over there: nothing that concerns you." Ed replied to her before turning his attention towards his wife, looking down on the back of her head hard. "And you ought to focus on your work. This ain't no comedy club." Ed informed his wife, having her nod slightly and having Andrea give out an annoyed huff.

Redhead? Okay then. We continued on with our work, Ed still hovering over us. We worked in silence and to tell you the truth, it was getting on my last nerves as well. So much for keeping my annoyance down from earlier. Andrea patted me on my back before getting up from the crate she sat on, making her way over to Ed. "Ed, tell you what-you don't like how your laundry is done, you are welcome to pitch in and do it yourself." Andrea informed him, having Amy and I look at each other a bit before turning back to the scene, seeing the look Ed was giving the blond-haired women. "Here." Andrea said tossing a shirt to Ed, only to have it thrown back at her roughly.

Amy and I both stood up after that, both knowing something back was about to happen. "Ain't my job, missy." Ed simply informed her.

"Andrea, don't." Amy told her older sister, obviously knowing something was about to happen.

"Yeah, Andrea, it isn't worth it." I also told the older blond, agreeing with Amy.

"What is your job, Ed?" Andrea questioned angrily, her annoyance finally getting the better of her-and the whole shirt getting thrown at her probably overdid it, too. "Sitting on your ass smoking cigarettes?"

"Well, it sure as hell ain't listening to some uppity smart-mouthed bitch." Ed replied to Andrea bitterly, causing her to scoff at his words. "Tell you what-come. Let's go." Ed said turning his attention towards Carol, who instantly stood up and began walking towards her husband.

"Carol, don't go." I said towards the older women, grabbing her hand tightly in mine.

"K'Brent's right," Andrea said agreeing. "I don't think she needs to anywhere with you, Ed."

"And I say it's none of y'all's business." Ed told us sternly, trying to level more up on us. He turned his attention back towards Carol. "Come on now. You heard me."

"Carol-" I said as the women kept walking towards her husband. I feared for her safety-and everyone else did as well it appeared.

"Carol." Andrea said placing her hand on Carol's shoulder, trying to stop her and I released her hand.

"Andrea, please." She pleaded with us, her voice low and soft. "It doesn't matter."

"Hey, don't think I won't knock you on your ass just 'cause you're some college-educated cooze." Ed stated to Andrea before grabbing onto Carol's arm, pulling her along, but Andrea grabbed hold of Carol. "Now you come on now or you gonna regret it later." Ed threatened Carol.

"So she can show up with fresh bruises later, Ed?" Jacqui questioned towards Ed with bitter anger, cutting her eyes towards the older man. I gasped and covered my mouth lightly looking at Carol. "Yeah, we've seen them."

"Stay out of this." Ed ordered her, tugging Carol along. "Now come on! You know what? This ain't none of y'all's business. You don't want to keep prodding the bull here, okay? Now I am done talking. Come on, Carol."

"Wait, no!" I said out loud over Andrea's pleading and Carol's soft mutterings. "Carol, you don't have-" I began to say, but was cut off.

"You don't tell me what! I tell you what!" Ed angrily screamed at poor Carol, raising his hand to struck her when I quickly and harshly-and surprising myself-shoved Ed backwards. Everyone grew quiet and Ed looked at me a bit dazed-like he couldn't believe I shoved him backwards.

"You _jerk!_" I screamed at Ed, lowering my voice to a low hiss. "You're suppose to love your wife, not beat her! And how _dare _you raise a hand to her!"

Ed looked at me a bit before his face changed to anger, and before I knew it I felt the stingy pain on my face. He slapped me! The force was hard enough I was knocked into Amy, making her fall down to the hard ground with me. I was the one dazed now, hearing Amy talking to me as she looked at my face-and over Amy was the yelling of Andrea, Jacqui and Ed. Jacqui and Andrea were pulling Carol away from Ed, yelling at him to leave her be-and Ed was still trying to grab at his wife, yelling over the two women for her to come with him. Carol was shaken by everything, she began sobbing loudly as the two women kept trying to get her away from her abusive husband.

Before I knew it Ed began yelling something differently, something telling someone to get off of him-and after that, it was followed by loud, hard and angry punches connecting to the abuser's face. I snapped out of it, still having Amy holding on to me to look over and seeing Shane standing above Ed, holding the man's shirt in his fist, repeatedly beating him over and over again with his fist. After awhile, it became clear to us that Shane wasn't about to stop and by the looks of Ed, he seriously needed something to stop his abusive before died or something like that. We all stood there, Carol included, yelling for Shane to stop. He kept ignoring us, but as our calls grew louder he finally looked back over to us before looking at the half-beaten Ed Peletier. Shane gripped Ed's shirt, bringing the beaten man closer to his face and pointed a finger towards him, fire inside his brown eyes. "You put your hands on your wife, your little girl or anybody else in this camp one more time, I will not stop next time. Do you hear me? Do you hear me?!" Shane shouted towards Ed, having me back up some into Amy a little bit. Ed nodded his head the bed he could before Shane let his beaten body fall to the hard ground. "I'll beat you to death, Ed. I'll beat you to death."

As she stood up and backed away from Ed, Carol broke away from Andrea and began running to her husband, falling to his side and put his face into her hands. She was sobbing telling him she was sorry, and I only bit my bottom lip. Shane looked towards the rest of us and we looked at him-none saying anything, only looking at each other with shocked expressions. Shane nodded his head slowly, making his way up the dirt trail back to the campsite, leaving the rest of us to look at one another-and not believing anything that had just happened.


End file.
